Meet Nehal Tenany | Co-Host, That Desi Spark

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nehal Tenany and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nehal, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
Annika and I are children of immigrant parents from India – we are first-generation South Asian Americans living in the United States. Our background and upbringing have played a huge role in our dual identity. Growing up, it was really hard to navigate because you’re trying to be as respectful to your culture and your parents who immigrated here by maintaining as much of the South Asian roots you can but then at school, you also want to fit in and adapt to the American culture. Because of this, we both developed some resentment toward the South Asian culture in our younger years. We were also embarrassed because we didn’t look like anyone in our schools and there was no media representation, we felt like outsiders. Going into college, you’re greeted with a melting pot of cultures. So many people from around the world, we could easily find our people and grow our appreciation towards our culture. Now we’re in our late 20’s and mid-30’s and we absolutely embrace our culture and the people around us, it was a journey of our identity at the end of the day, and now we’re so proud to share with the rest of the world.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Annika and I started the That Desi Spark podcast about 3 years ago. It was originally called The Woke Desi and we put our blood, sweat, and tears into it the first year as it started to launch. Our goal was to create a podcast that illuminates learning and sparks the South Asian community to own their stories, rise up with confidence, and blaze a path forward. We wanted people to know they weren’t alone, any thought or topic that was considered “taboo” in our culture was going to be talked about – no more living this sheltered life and keeping our stories to ourselves.

As soon as we started our podcast, we got a flood of DMs and messages just saying how this was something our community needed. We started to build our brand up through daily social media posting and content creation, lining up guests left and right to record episodes, and reaching out to small businesses to sponsor our episodes to keep the lights on. It was rough.

We both had full-time jobs and personal life things happening – it was getting to be so hard to manage and there were times when we thought, “Is this worth it?”

But after every episode, those few messages we would get from people saying how it changed their life or they really needed to hear that – that was everything to us.

So we kept going. We even took a hiatus for 5 months but we came back.

And the work paid off.

2021: We got featured in Forbes AND Spotify put up billboards of us across New York and San Francisco.

Then we went through a little bit of a rebrand – the word “woke” for The Woke Desi was no longer working for us. We had to adapt to current times and our brand had to evolve. That Desi Spark was born in the end of 2021.

2022: We became an official press outlet – Netflix and other media outlets started funneling their talent to us, and we were hosting interviews with some amazing people.

And now we’re just on the road to growth.

I want people to know that the road to success has not been easy for us and we still haven’t unlocked our full potential, we’re just excited for the journey and are super grateful for the love and support.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
IT’S ALL ON MY BLOG! LA has the BEST vodka pasta in the world. I would eat my heart out at Ysabel, Elephanté, and Pijja Palace.

You’ve got to do the Runyon Canyon hike and see the Hollywood sign.

I love a little day party at Bunglow in Santa Monica paired with a beach day.

And it’s always rooftop season in LA so definitely sip on some espresso martinis at The Rooftop by JG, EP & LP, or Bar Lis.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We want to shoutout Brown Girl Magazine – founded by Trisha Sakhuja-Walia, BGM was the OG desi platform for brown people to connect on through storytelling. They pushed boundaries by shedding light on an array of topics things through interviews, opinion pieces, and videos, and you truly had a place to call home. Throughout the years, they’ve built an amazing community and one that we’re so grateful to be a part of.

Website: www.nehaltenany.com

Instagram: @thatdesispark & @nehaltenany & @annikasharma

Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/2tacrzq2u8HDwmfEKkRP8l